An Outlet: Part 2

2 December, 2017 - Career Day

The much awaited Career Day has finally arrived!

Today was the main show and things went great according to me.

I reached college at 7:30AM and was immediately put incharge of taking attendance for my division. Very few second years had arrived and I had absolutely no interest in talking to my arrogant juniors so I went far away from them. One good thing about today's career day was even tho my room had 50% glass walls, it was away from the other rooms. This is why there were only a handful of people in that area. An introvert's bliss. On the other hand, it could prove to be a disadvantage to us and people might not realise there is another workshop happening here.

I began prepping up for the day. I made the sure the presentations were up and running, all our materials were safe and easy to access, the music was set, the food was in place, the feedback forms and box was kept, etc.

Ms. Paula came in about half an hour later and gave me a last minute job. I hate last minute jobs. There was something she had to add to the PPTs but didn't get time to do last night so I had to do it. I somehow managed to complete it and gain some composure back.

Let me explain what the 3 activities were.

Activity 1: To The Moon And Back

The students had to divide themselves into groups of 6-8 people.

They were given various household items with which they had to make the tallest standing rocket in 15 minutes.

The catch? They cannot speak to each other. They have ideate, agree, disagree, execute, rectify their errors, and finally make a standing rocket by either writing stuff down on paper or by facial expressions or signaling or however else they can think of communicating.

In the end, the tallest standing rocket wins.

Activity 2: Marsian Merchant

The students have to form groups of 6-8 people.

Setting: In order to sustain in Mars for a long time, they will need to be innovative enough to create a business on that planet, using an existing brand.

Materials: Two boxes full of chits. Box 1 will contain major brand names while Box 2 will contain names of a commodity.

Instruction (After picking up one chit from either box): "You work for the company on the one chit, and they now require you to develop a product along with its features, benefits, target audience, and perhaps promotional ideas. for them that is on the other chit. At the end of 15 mins, you must present your work to everyone."

Activity 3: Houston, We Have A Problem!

Scenario: You are a member of a space crew originally scheduled to rendezvous with a mother ship on the lighted surface of the moon. However, due to mechanical difficulties, your ship was forced to land at a spot some 200 miles from the rendezvous point. During reentry and landing, much of the equipment aboard was damaged and, since survival depends on reaching the mother ship, the most critical items available must be chosen for the 200-mile trip. Below are listed the 15 items left intact and undamaged after landing. Your task is to rank order them in terms of their importance for your crew in allowing them to reach the rendezvous point. Place the number 1 by the most important item, the number 2 by the second most important, and so on through number 15 for the least important.

Your Ranking NASA Ranking

_______ Box of matches _______

_______ Food concentrate _______

_______ 50 feet of nylon rope _______

_______ Parachute silk _______

_______ Portable heating unit _______

_______ Two .45 caliber pistols _______

_______ One case of dehydrated milk _______

_______ Two 100 lb. tanks of oxygen _______

_______ Stellar map _______

_______ Self-inflating life raft _______

_______ Magnetic compass _______

_______ 20 liters of water _______

_______ Signal flares _______

_______ First aid kit, including injection needle _______

_______ Solar-powered FM receiver-transmitter _______

At around 9:30AM, our first batch arrived. Ms. Paula first acquainted them with the theme of the workshop and made them select which of the three activities they would like to take up.

A few other volunteers then switched the presentation as and when needed, gave out the necessary supplies according to the activity chosen, then supervised the activity and collected the remaining materials as well as the feed back forms. It was a pretty smooth management chain.

The workshop went well for most part of the day. We had good and attentive students who really thought out of the box. It was fun listening to their interpretation of the instructions given to them.

Everyone did their job well, except Darcy. She was incharge of pulling crowd to our workshop. If you are put 'in charge of the workshop', you are expected to be near that room at all times. This woman was busy chilling around with people (who I'm sure she just piled on on) and was never there when we wanted her. Whenever I called her, she kept saying that she's getting people towards our workshop when it wasn't even required. And if she said she was getting crowd then we wouldn't have had people leave because our workshop wasn't filled. I swear if this time around she gets a prize and not me, people are going to see a different side of me.

Coming back to myself, I really enjoyed today. I've said it before and I'll say it now that I'm proud of what I've produced and how INVOLVED I was in Career Day this year. Also, another small observation. People really got surprised when I greeted them. Maybe they're not used to me saying hi cause Kristen is the one who normally does that, not me.

After coming back home, I watched The 'Perks of Being A Wallflower'. I had been meaning to see the movie since ages but never got around to see it but now I finally did! I liked it, not lived it but it was good. Emma Watson's acting was a bit too much for me but the movie on the whole was good.

"We accept the love we think we deserve" - The Perks of Being a Wallflower

I accept the life I think I deserve.